Alibaba, Ant combine forces to take on Meituan in instant commerce market

Alibaba Group Holding and its fintech affiliate Ant Group, both co-founded by Jack Ma, have joined forces to create an army of delivery service workers to defeat Meituan in the instant commerce market.

A total of 22 businesses operated by Alibaba and Ant, including domestic online marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, Ant’s Alipay payment service and Alibaba Cloud, have pledged to improve the conditions of millions of delivery riders.

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Alibaba’s move to pool resources from different units – which also include food delivery service Ele.me, fresh food store Freshippo and online travel booking site Fliggy – is being promoted as a public welfare campaign, but it marks the first time since 2020 that all of the group’s key brands are on the same page.

This month, Alibaba rolled out a new membership programme spanning a range of services, from online marketplaces and food delivery to travel bookings.

According to a statement from Taobao on Monday, Alibaba’s delivery riders would be equipped with a new orange uniform in the style of a racing suit. The company pledged to provide better welfare coverage for its riders and set up special funds to support the education and healthcare needs of riders and their family members.